Do you remember the Star Trek episode where they ended up visiting a planet that was so overcrowded no one was ever alone? There was a sense of oppression even though, on the one hand, it was wonderful that there was no illness so everyone lived a long life. On the other hand, there was no illness…so EVERYONE lived a long life and over population had taken on pandemic proportions. There was no place to go to find external peace. The residents of the planet were looking for a way to introduce new disease so that they could be able to have some space again.
Internet marketing of the “latest and greatest personal growth idea of the century” feels like it has gotten to that point. While there are many wonderful programs out there provide personal growth, self-actualization and empowerment with the best ones based on concepts thousands of years old, today’s marketing techniques make it sound like something new, forgotten, unheard of in centuries…you know what I mean. Moreover, it seems everyone is doing it from the great to the not so great. In addition, as I found some have deviated far from the boundaries of integrity.
Within Freedom’s Formula, I am always looking for ways to ask better questions, make better choices and embrace change that allows me to speak to more hearts. I hear from many of personal growth experts on a daily basis. I am open to tempering my thoughts and actions to be more in alignment with my understanding of truth as revealed to me – from whatever the source.
A few days ago, I received an email promoting the “Lost Art of Pelmanism”. It was from Joe Vitale. Now I have read Zero Limits and I liked his concepts, as we seem to agree on a number of points. I have even taken him up on a recommendation for health products. There is a “but” and it is a big one as far as I am concerned. He is not accessible. His email addresses bounce, you know, that reply email that is not valid. His communication is on a mass-market scale even to business associates. There is more too.
The information on Pelmanism did sound very interesting. Mental mastery, personal growth…you know the routine, so I followed the link to find out more about it. On the subsequent website there was a sentence caught my eye. It said, “These twelve books explain very clearly how to train your mind with exercises, concepts, and secrets that just aren’t available anywhere else.”
If this information was really around that long – how is it not “available anywhere else”?
So I decided to follow a different path.
I spent some time on Google looking up Pelmanism. I found a card “game” that is supposed to be based on the books. This is the same type of card game that I have played with my kids for years – turn cards over and match pairs by remembering where the different cards are located. I found a site that allows you to download all of the twelve books at no charge. Then I found the original author. Moreover, I found an antique bookstore about an hour away with all 12 books.
My initial intent was to do a comparison of content along with reviewing it from the perspective of Freedom’s Formula.
I went ahead and downloaded the PDF from Devox out of South Africa. It is riddled with errors – some obvious others not so. Up front, the reader is told of the potential for error with text saying, “Despite careful editing it is possible that some of the original contents is missing or spelled wrong.” Personally, having done extensive transcription of old news papers, “careful” editing does not allow for missing content or spelling errors as it can lead to different interpretation of content.
I bought the Lost Art of Pelmanism by Joe Vitale and Pat O’Bryan – it was a small investment to have the content in PDF format and to see how these two master markets and self-help gurus have used the information.
Both PDF versions include the routine “Copyright © 2005. All rights reserved. No portions of this work may be reproduced in any form…”
I also bought the 12 original books from Cromwell Books. For an anachronistic moment, I was thrilled to see that the original owner R. S. Rankin and the dates in book six 10/10/29, twelve 6/15/30. From the content of the books and brief reserch on the web – he could even have been Robert Stanely Rankin – professor professor of Political Science at Duke University. A Poly Sci Proffessor could very easily have used this information to great advantage. At least it makes for a very cool connection with history.
What surprised me upon first scanning, is that the content of the Lost Art of Pelmanism is little more than plagiarism. They appear to have simply changed the title and put their names on the books. Additionally, the layout is exactly the same, page breaks, hyphenation and all. Then you add a slick marketing page and voila, money in the bank. All for the little time it took to convert the text, put up a couple of web pages for sales and thank you/ product delivery then some emails to sell it all. Again and again since it started at least three years ago.
Joe Vitale and Pat O’Bryan do not seem to have even put anything new (of their own) in Mr. Ennerver’s work nor credit Mr. Ennever.
In any case, I am going to see how Pelmanism by William Joseph Ennever relates to Freedom’s Formula and the Handbook for Freedom. I will be keeping you posted at least once a week and we’ll see if it takes me as long to get through these as it did Mr. Rankin. 
Until next time – go out and make it a great day!
In Harmony,
Kira
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